1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to textiles, such as bandages, sutures, or fabrics, and more particularly to hemostatic textiles that include agents that can control bleeding rapidly and can be stored for long periods of time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Despite considerable progress in understanding pathophysiological processes involved in surface (topical) hemostasis, there remains a considerable unmet need for materials that can be applied to sites of hemorrhage to staunch bleeding. Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death for individuals under 44 years of age (Bozeman, W. Shock, Hemorrhage (2001)). Approximately half of the 100,000 deaths annually in the United States per year from traumatic injury, or 50,000 cases, are from exsanguinations, (Peng, R., Chang, C., Gilmore, D. & Bongard, F. Am Surg Vol. 64 950-4 (1998)) and about the same number of hemorrhaging patients survive after massive red blood cell transfusion (Vaslef, S., Knudsen, N., Neligan, P., and Sebastian, M. J. Trauma-Inj. Inf. Crit. Care Vol. 53 291-296 (2002)). Thus, approximately 100,000 patients are in critical need of hemorrhage control in the US each year. The situation is equally critical in combat casualty care; in a recent review of military casualties (Burlingame, B. DOD's experiences in Afghanistan Advanced Technological Applications for Combat Casualty Care 2002 Conference in www.usaccc.org (2002)), the control of non-compressible bleeding was identified as the single most important unmet need in military emergency medicine. The standard of care is frequently the application of a tourniquet to control “compressible” bleeding and then gauze to control the residual “noncompressible” bleeding. However, continued blood loss through gauze is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality.
The prior art is replete with patents directed to various forms of bandages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,006 to King discloses a sterile transparent dressing for a wound and made from a hydrophilic polymeric gel of an insoluble polymer, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,061 to Usukura discloses a rigid bandage made from glass fibers and non-glass fibers. In addition, various methods have been attempted to quickly arrest bleeding in an injured person. Several of these methods include articles such as bandages supplemented with substances that chemically accelerate the body's natural clotting processes. Examples of such articles include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,328,259 to Anderson discloses a bandage or wound dressing that incorporates polymers such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, polyoxyethylene, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,299 to Sabatano discloses a bandage that includes a packet containing an antiseptic substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,519 to Sawyer discloses a bandage in the form of a sponge and containing collagen or a collagen-like substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,939 to Zimmerman et al. discloses a composition useful as a wound dressing and made from a combination of collagen, fibrinogen and thrombin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,337 to Zimmerman et al. discloses a resorptive sheet for closing and treating wounds, and composed of a glycoprotein matrix that contains fibrinogen and thrombin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,644 to Saferstein et al. discloses an adhesive bandage that includes high molecular weight polyethylene oxide as a hemostatic agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,372 to Bell et al. discloses a dressing made from an absorbent polymer and includes microfibrillar collagen.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,608 to Read et al. discloses surgical aids such as bandages, gauzes, sutures, and the like, that contain fixed-dried blood cells that express platelet-derived growth factors.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,638,296 to Levinson discloses a bandage that includes a pad containing glucosamine or a glucosamine derivative.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,762,336 and International Patent Application Publication No. WO/99/59647 to MacPhee et al. discloses a multilayer bandage that includes a thrombin layer sandwiched between two fibrinogen layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,897,348 to Malik discloses an adhesive bandage that contains an antimicrobial agent and a hemostatic agent (e.g., chitosan, niacinamide, or ascorbic acid), or a single wound-healing agent that contains both antimicrobial and hemostatic activities (e.g., chitosan niacinamide ascorbate salt).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,077 to Rothwell et al. discloses fibrinogen bandages that include a procoagulant such as propyl gallate, gallic acid, or a derivative thereof. Optional ingredients such as thrombin or an antimicrobial agent may also be included.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO 97/28823 to New Generation Medical Corporation discloses a hemostatic bandage that contains powdered fibrinogen and thrombin adhered to a fibrous matrix with a viscous, nonaqueous adhesive such as a viscous polysaccharide, glycol, or petroleum jelly.
Despite considerable progress in understanding pathophysiological processes involved in hemostasis, tissue remodeling, and resolution at wound sites, there remains a critical unmet need for a material that can be applied to sites of injury to accelerate these processes. The present invention is believed to be an answer to that need.